Yi Peng: The festival of lights in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

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Once again, for the third time since I’ve been living in Chiang Mai, I had the pleasure to attend to one of the most beautiful and photogenic festivals in the world: Yi Peng and Loy Krathong.

Yi Peng (or Yee Peng) is a festival of light that coincides with Loy Krathong in Thailand. It’s a Lanna festival so it is mainly celebrated in the northern part of the country. The festival takes place during the 2nd lunar month of the Lanna calendar (Yi means ‘2nd’ and Peng means ‘month’) which usually falls on a November.

The main attraction during this beautiful event is the multitude of flying lanterns that are released in the sky, compared to Loy Krathong which is more about floating lanterns on the river.

Like in the past years, the biggest lantern release (over a thousand lanterns launched simultaneously) took place in Mae Jo, a small town outside of Chiang Mai. Thousands of people gathered up near a temple to meditate before releasing lanterns.

In the past years, I had an amazing time during this festival. However, this year, I felt the slimy tentacles of commercialism starting to taint the whole experience. Already in 2011, they created 2 separate events in Mae Jo, one that was for ‘locals’ and remained free, and the second one was for tourists, costing about $80 (which is a LOT of money in Thailand for a single event). This didn’t bother me much since we still could attend the first free event anyway.

This year was a little different. There still was a free event, but half of the field was reserved by tour agencies, hoarding tourists from various Asian countries. It not only limited the space we all had, but it spoiled the experience a little bit since nobody respected the meditation (speaking and laughing loudly) and nobody followed the rules that attendants should light the lanterns and release them all together at the same time. It was chaotic, crowded, and a little disappointing.

Having said that, I still think Yi Peng and Loy Krathong are amazing festivals that need to be added on a bucket list (along with Songkran at least once). It didn’t suck, it was just a little disappointing. Yi Peng isn’t just about Mae Jo’s release, it’s also the celebrations in town, the events in temples, the happy locals, and all the decorations around Chiang Mai’s old city.

I attended this event 3 times and I knew what to expect. But for a newcomer, it is still an incredible experience and I often see huge smiles and happy tears all around me when the lanterns are all launched together in the sky.

If you haven’t already, add it to your bucket list and head out to Chiang Mai during the month of November.

Here are a few shots from this year, hope you enjoy them and don’t hesitate to pin or share them.

Beautiful shots. This festival has been on my must see list for a long time. I teach, and November is a teaching month, so until I stop teaching I’ll have to live this festival through gorgeous shots like yours. Too bad to hear about the commercial aspect creeping in. $80.00/ticket is a little hard to accept/pay with a smile on your face.

Breathtaking shots Daniel!! Inspires me to keep traveling and keep shooting. (On a side note, I plan on going this year. Do you know of a site I can check with to find out the date of the local festival?)

thank you very muchhhh…But if i want to see a festival light in Chiangmai like your photo, should i come on day?
Sorry to bother you, but i look forward to participating this festival once in my life so hope you help me….

Thank you :)
It was a disappointment compared to the previous years, but it’s still a beautiful event, so: yes, I would still recommend the free one.
I’ve never attended the paid one so I can’t really give an opinion. If you are looking for an easy way to get there, attend some cultural events, have less crowd around you and get back home easily, then paid one is better suited (but costs $100). The free one has no cultural events, and you have to get there and back on your own :)

Hi Daniel!
Awesome post! I’m coming to Chiang Mai this November and Yi Peng is part of the trip.
I’d be grateful if you can share with me some information about the event, its location and anything need to be prepared since it’s my first time coming to Chiang Mai.

Hi Daniel we are coming to thailand in nov this year (yet to book as wanting to see the release of the fire lanterns as you pictured above. Do you know the date that the lanterns will be released as I know this can vary from Loy krathong and yi peng dates? We really want to see and be part of he lantern release if possible so really need to find out the exact date that it will happen on…. Thank you so much for your help.

Hey Ellie,
The official Loy Krathing day is on the 17th of November (full moon), but the mass lantern releases are during two events: A free one on the 16th and a paid one on the 23rd.
Hope you make it.

Hey Victoria :)
As I mentioned above, nobody knows the 2014 dates for the big lantern release. It should be around the full moon in November (which will be on the 6th this year). It could be a week earlier to a week later.
The dates are announced much later in the year. Hope you make it though!

Hi Daniel,
Your photos are awesome.
Could you please tell me where is the free event and where we can wait for the launch of thousand of lanterns ? We really want to see the release of lantern but all tickets for the paid event seem to be sold out.
Thank you so much for your help.

Hi,
Both the paid event and the free event take place at the same place, which is in Mae Jo, a few minutes outside of town.
You can ask any taxi/tuktuk or songthaew driver and they can either take you there or point you how to get there.
I recommend taking a songthaew from the Warorot market, I don’t remember which color bus takes you to Mae Jo (either blue or white) but you can just ask the driver. It will cost you 20 baht per person if you take a songthaew, which is quite cheap for a 45min drive :)

I love your photos! I was in Chiang Mai during Loy Krathong last year, but ended up missing Yi Peng. Would you know when the paid/free event will take place this November 2014? Definitely including it in my travel plans this year.

Hey Tricia,
Thanks for the compliment :)
The Yi Peng / Loy Krathong OFFICIAL dates are easy to find, it’s always on the full moon day in November.
However, the mass lantern releases in Mae Jo are never known months in advance. It can be from 1 week earlier, to a week later. You’ll just have to keep an eye around that period.

[…] not forget the most beautiful festival that takes place every year in the North of Thailand: Yi Peng and Loy Krathong. This was my third time experiencing it here in Chiang Mai and even though last year was a little […]

I’m having such a hard time figuring out when the release will be this year (2014). I know they dont release the date till pretty soon before. The full moon falls on Thursday November 6th. Do they ever hold the release at Maejo on a week day? Is it always right on the full moon, or simply just sometime around it? I really don’t want to miss it and only have about 4 days to spend in Chiang Mai so I’m trying to coincide my dates with it.

Hey :) Yes, they don’t release the dates until much later in the year, but it’s very often around the full moon and you are correct, it’s usually on weekends to allow Thai people to attend too. So It might be on the weekend right before the 6th (1st or 2nd November?). However, this is the “big release” that I’m talking about, which happens in Mae Jo, right outside of Chiang Mai. But if you arrive during the week of yee peng, you WILL experience lantern releases in town and there are celebrations during the entire week :) Some of… Read more »

Hello .. we are traveling to Chiang Mai from the 5th to the 8th of november this year, so as i saw we could be at the tourists lanterns release the 8th of november, but do you know where and when we could buy the tickets for this event? Also do you know what is the best place to watch it?. Thanks a lot!

[…] to the trip ahead, which is going to be filled with friends, favorite old destinations and one very highly anticipated festival. There’s something special about the exotic becoming the familiar, and that’s very much […]

Hi Daniel!
These photographs are phenomenal! They capture the emotion of the event so well! I’ll be attending the Yi Peng on Saturday Oct. 25th in Chiang Mai, I’m a novice photographer who enjoys composing and taking pictures very much. Got any tips on how to snap a great photo of this event? I understand the lanterns float up in the sky very quickly, do you have a fast shutter speed to accommodate this? What setting do you recommend for the ISO? — from one Armenian to another, kenats’t!

Parev Alissa :) Thank you for the comment and the compliment. It’s great that you’re going to attend the festival. You’ll love it. The best way to capture the lanterns is to use a wide angle lens if you have one, to try and capture as much as possible (less than 20mm focal length). Yes, you also need a fast(-ish) shutter speed to avoid having blurry lanterns. I usually try to keep it faster than 1/30sec. Bump up your ISO if you can (at least 800 or more), and use the widest open aperture possible to let in more light.… Read more »

Parev Daniel! :) Sh’norhakal em! This advice is fantastic! It was very kind of you to take the time and respond to my questions. Yes — I have a Nikon D5000…it was my first DSLR, and I don’t have the heart to upgrade to a newer one because it’s been with me through some of my best memories :) The widest angle lens I have has an 18mm focal length which allows for a max aperture of 3.5f, and in manual mode I’ll keep my shutter speed at 1/30sec or faster. Do you not recommend going higher than an ISO… Read more »

Hi there, I may not be able to plan to see the Mae Jo release since that date is not released in advance but where and when in Chiang Mai (1st or 2nd day of yipeng?) can we see a mass release of lanterns? Where are some of your intown photos from? Thanks!!

Hey Rachna,
The Yi Peng festival lasts about a week until the “official day”, which is on the full moon. This year it will probably be around 25th of November (last I’ve heard).
So you will find lanterns being released around that date. It won’t be as massive as the one in Mae Jo, but it’s still beautiful. Many of the images of the monks with the lanterns were taken in the city center, in Wat Phan Tao temple. There are also plenty of lanterns released by the river.

Hi,
Yes I will probably be attending next year. However, the dates are never clear until just a few months before. The official holiday depends on the Lunar calendar but the actual celebrations can very between a couple of weeks earlier or later.